Windows 10 Increases Market Share, but Trails Behind Windows 8.1

Since Microsoft has released Windows 10 as a free upgrade at the end of this July, its market share has skyrocketed. The new operating system is continuing its increase, but not that dizzying.

According to a fresh report coming from Net Applications, it seems Windows 10 has now captured a market share of 6.63%. The newest Windows OS from Microsoft has seen a 5.21 percent market share in August, and gained 1.42 percentage points to hit 6.63 percent in September.

Some of the most recent reports say that there are over 100 million machines running Windows 10, which is a nice number for a rookie OS, to say so. However, Windows 7 is still the most popular desktop OS with a 56.63%, down only by 1% from 57.67%. What’s funny is that Windows XP now sits at 12.21%, up from 12.14%. Windows 8.1 has a marketshare of 10.72%, down from 11.39%, and we can say that this is the most immediate ‘rival’ for Windows 10.

It’s hard to estimate how much it will take Windows 10 to reach Windows 8.1’s numbers, but this is a gradual, yet sure outcome. And let’s say that it will manage to eat away from Windows XP’s share, as well, but the biggest challenge ahead, no doubt about it, is Windows 7.

Microsoft said they want to put Windows 10 on over a billion machines, and they’re currently achieved 10% of that purpose. The company estimates that will happen in two to three years, so it would seem they have plenty of time to achieve that.

Thins are still great for Windows 10, as the new OS has triple the market share its predecessor had at the same point after launch. Furthermore, Microsoft has recently announced its Baidu partnership to push Windows 10 in China, as the company knows that there are many users there still using old versions.